Tag Archives: Thanksgiving Day

I’m blessed to be leading the finest diplomatic corps in the world. The @StateDept team puts its heart and soul into the service of our nation. Susan and I appreciate these patriots’ and their families’ commitment to the mission, and wish all Americans a Happy #Thanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/WM359vMcDg

U.S. missions overseas celebrated Thanksgiving Day away from home in many different ways. The U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur bought school supplies and lunch to a school helping educate orphans and displaced Rohingya children in Malaysia. The U.S. Embassy in Dublin pardoned Dustin the Turkey, who is quite a talker, as you can see from the video posted by Embassy Dublin. When news of the reported pardon broke in local news, Dustin the Turkey quipped, “For legal reasons I am unable to comment on this report, however I would like to take this opportunity to say how @USAmbIreland is a very, very handsome man but he is also clearly a visionary who is a credit to his nation and all at @USEmbassyDublin.

The folks from Embassy Kabul and Embassy Bogota shared what they were thankful for, while the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv hosted an “Interfaith Thanksgiving Dinner.” The U.S. Embassy in San Salvador hosted members of the local police for dinner. The U.S. embassies in Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, and the Consulate General in Mumbai in India hosted dinners for embassy families and local friends.

US Embassy Kuala Lumpur

Since 2015, The Rainbow of Love – Pelangi Kasih school has educated orphans and displaced/stateless people, most coming from the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group from Burma’s western Rakhine State. Sekolah Pelangi Kasih has about 100 students ages 5-17 who study English, Malay, Science, Mathematics, and Islamic Studies. This week, nearly 20 American and Malaysian staff from the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur visited the school in Kuala Lumpur’s Taman Selayang neighborhood. They bought school supplies, toys, clothes and lunch for the kids.

US Embassy Dublin

US Embassy Kabul

Today Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday dedicated to giving thanks for our blessings. Watch our video here, and please share with us what you are thankful for! #thankfulhttps://t.co/fuDhWgy6Ip

US Embassy Singapore

. @StephanieSyptak joined senior managers of the Embassy in serving all of our staff a traditional #Thanksgiving meal courtesy of the American Employee Association. The annual Thanksgiving lunch is an expression of thanks for the hard work of all our Embassy team members. pic.twitter.com/09ldb3fgFY

US Embassy Ouagadougou

Thanksgiving celebrated early at US Embassy Ouagadougou. The ambassador and the entire American embassy Staff serving Foreign Service Nationals/Local employed staff…. sharing a meal and thanking them for all their work. Happy early Thanksgiving giving Ouagadougou pic.twitter.com/F4hvvEVHCC

US Embassy Colombo

Delighted to share #Thanksgiving with Sri Lankan and American friends. “For the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge.” pic.twitter.com/ZOyobbR7Zp

🍗 Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone! Thank you for your continued support this year. I am grateful for your making this blog a part of your day.To our champions, I am here because you were there for me. I am grateful for your unending encouragement. Thank you all for making this year possible!

Below is a round-up of Thanksgiving Day celebrations around the Foreign Service. Giving thanks to the men and women representing America at our diplomatic missions around the world. They have in the past, served meals at community centers, served meals to local embassy and consulate staffers, hosted Peace Corps volunteers away from their homes, and more than a few have cooked/brought meals to Americans incarcerated overseas during the Thanksgiving holidays. — D

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US Embassy Wellington, New Zealand

Ambassador Mark Gilbert and staff hosted the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Downtown Community Ministry in Wellington.

Via achives.gov, below is an excerpt from David Langbart’s The Text Message blog post from November 20, 2012 about Thanksgiving Day 1918. The Text Message is the blog of the Textual Services Division at the National Archives.

“Thanksgiving is considered by many to be the quintessential American holiday. As Thanksgiving 1918 approached, American had more reason than the usual to give thanks. On November 11, 1918, Germany signed the armistice that brought World War I to an effective end. In the wake of that event, the United States made an attempt to broaden the application of Thanksgiving to a selected world-wide audience.

On November 13, the Department of State sent a the following telegram, personally drafted and signed by Secretary of State Robert Lansing, to its diplomatic representatives in the capitals of the victorious powers. The message went to the American embassy or legation in Belgium, Brazil, China, Cuba, France, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, and Siam.”

Click on image to read the cable)

Here is the text of Secretary of State Lansing’s telegram above:

Nov 13, 1918
“You will at the first opportunity offered call attention of the Government, to which you are accredited, to the fact that on the last Thursday of November this country according to customs will celebrate a national day of thanksgiving and prayer. You may add that at this time, when there are such profound reasons for gratitude, the other victorious nations may consider it appropriate to designate Thursday, November twenty-eight, a national day of thanksgiving for the blessings bestowed upon us.”

Mr. Langbart writes:

Not all countries responded. Among the responses, the government of Greece appointed November 28 a national holiday to celebrate “deliverance from the yoke of foreign domination;” in Brazil, the government declared November 28 a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing and further stated that “Brazil wishes to associate herself in this thanksgiving with the people of North America who both in time of peace and war have been her friends;” and in great Britain, while there was not enough time to make arrangements for a general celebration, a service took place at Saint Martin in the Fields, attended by a representative of the King, other principals of the UK government, and members of the U.S. embassy. Several other countries designated November 28 a national holiday.

Mr. Langbart notes that President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) also issued the traditional Thanksgiving Proclamation on November 19, 1918, and it was distributed via telegram to American diplomatic and consular employees around the World. Click here to see the two-page telegram.

Thanksgiving Day became an official Federal holiday in 1863 under President Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed it a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”, to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. That 1863 proclamation was reportedly written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. The holiday was not always a paid Federal holiday nor always on the fourth Thursday of November. According to the CRS (pdf), a law signed by FDR on December 26, 1941, settled the dispute and permanently established Thanksgiving Day as a federal holiday to be observed on the fourth Thursday in November.

🍹 Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thank you for making us part of your day. And if you have a bird in this year’s White House Hunger Games, may the odds be ever in your favor🍹!!

At US Embassy Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), the American staff and family members home cooked and served a real American Thanksgiving lunch for the embassy’s Malaysian employees. Ambassador Paul Jones who helped serve lunch gave a shout out via FB to Victoria Station — “especially chef Haji Jean-Luc Lundy, Alex Lee and Vivian Low, for complementing our home cooked meal with delicious halal Thanksgiving dishes so that everyone could enjoy the occasion together.”

Photo from US Embassy KL/FB

The Thai-American celebrity chef Tommy Tang and Ambassador Kristie Kenney of US Embassy Bangkok (Thailand) prepared a Thanksgiving feast together for the children at Duang Pratheep Foundation. The foundation founded in 1978 to address the problems that have its roots in poverty and deprivation. Its permanent building which opened in 1992 is reportedly Thailand’s first comprehensive and resource center for the slum community.

Photo by US Embassy Bangkok/FB

Ambassador David Huebner of US Embassy Wellington (New Zealand) at the annual Thanksgiving lunch with the Downtown Community Ministry.

Photo via US Embassy NZ/Flickr(click on photo to view the slide show in Flickr)

At US Embassy Jakarta (Indonesia) Ambassador Scot Marciel and his wife Mae hosted around 100 young Indonesian alumni of U.S. exchange programs for Thanksgiving dinner at their residence.

Photo via US Embassy Jakarta/Flickr

At US Embassy Seoul (South Korea), Ambassador Sung Kim shares Thanksgiving dinner with English Teaching Assistants in The Fulbright Program.

Photo from US Embassy Seoul/FB

I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving week with loved ones and friends. To readers, followers, friends and champions of this blog, thank you for your thoughtfulness and continued support. I learn something from you everyday.